1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system that recovers superheated fluids from deep-ocean hydrothermal vents and allows those fluids to be utilized as a thermal energy source. In particular, the system is configured to direct a flow of superheated deep-ocean hydrothermal fluid through a reliable mechanism to the surface, for use by any other mechanism suitable for utilizing the heat; for example, generating electricity or desalinating water. The same device also provides a reliable mechanism for deep-ocean resource recovery of metals and minerals, simultaneous with or separate from thermal energy recovery, and without modification.
2. Description of Related Art
Global requirements for energy and fresh water are always rising, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new sources of supply for consumers. Concerns about global warming and excess greenhouse gasses, as well as the very high cost of fossil fuels make the search for clean energy from renewable sources even more imperative and desirable. The system disclosed herein provides the first disclosed method for harnessing this vast and inexhaustible natural source of energy.
Mining is also difficult and expensive on the earth's surface, and political turmoil in some areas rich in resources can limit access to needed and otherwise available materials. Up until now, recovering mineral resources in great quantities from the deep ocean has been nothing more than a dream. The system disclosed herein provides the first practical means for extracting those resources.
The most basic form of energy is heat. Whether from burning oil or coal, a nuclear reaction, or from the earth's magma, heat is what ultimately fuels almost all electric generation, water desalination, and other work processes.
Scientists have discovered deep-sea hydrothermal vents in places all over the world. Ocean water is forced into fissures in the sea floor by the pressures of ocean depth, eventually reaching deep within the earth's core. This water is superheated by the magma to over 750° Fahrenheit (400° C.) and it picks up rare elements from deep within the earth in the process. A continuous flow of this superheated water escapes back into the ocean through hydrothermal vents, with hydrothermal fluid exiting the sea floor at velocities of between 1 and 5 meters per second (3.6-18 km/hr, or 2.25-11 mph). It is estimated that the energy escaping from just the known hydrothermal vents is about 17,000,000 MW per year, or about equal to the entire human consumption of electricity on the planet for a year. It should also be noted that there are tens of thousands of miles of ocean floor where vents should be located that have never even been explored.
Since the water escaping is of a fundamentally different chemical composition than the surrounding seawater because of its exposure to magma, the term “fluid” will be used in the following description, even though it is composed primarily of seawater.
Although there are a few geothermal energy recovery inventions, none has been claimed for hydrothermal energy recovery, and none can be used to harness the naturally-occurring superheated seawater or other fluid from hydrothermal vents deep below the ocean in any manner, nor does any bring such ocean fluid to the surface in a heated state in order to take advantage of the temperature differential for energy utilization. Furthermore, none has been claimed as a system to recover deep-ocean minerals, metals, or chemicals. No anticipating or suggestive relevant art was found to make any claims similar to those of the present invention. The following will be referenced:
1. One such invention (U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,679), provides methods and apparatus for bringing the thermal energy found in subterranean hot rock to the surface. However, rock structures are fundamentally different from the ocean. Heat is transferred to the working fluid by conduction through the walls of uninsulated pipe in direct contact with rock all along its length. The present invention uses naturally occurring ocean fluid from hydrothermal vents as the heat source, and heat is only introduced to the system at the bottom of the ocean. The invention disclosed herein is also without modification a deep ocean mineral resource recovery apparatus.
2. Another previous invention, (U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,176), provides systems for conversion to electricity of geothermal energy obtained from heat flow through solid rock materials. It receives its heat in a very similar to the manner in which U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,679 does. As previously noted, the present invention only introduces heat at the bottom of the system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,176 also limits conversion of this heat energy just to electricity. The energy obtained from hydrothermal vents can be used for electricity generation, water desalination, or any other thermal energy use, and this invention also provides the ability to recover mineral resources from ocean depths without modification.
3. In yet another invention (U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,584), a system is disclosed for generating energy from a geothermal heat source. This invention provides a means for injecting fluid into a subterranean formation, and also contains a mechanism configured for extracting the injected fluid from said formation after being heated by it. The present invention uses no such system of injection and extraction, nor does it utilize subterranean formations in any way. The present invention uses naturally occurring superheated fluid from deep ocean hydrothermal vents for electricity generation, water desalination, or any other thermal energy use. The present invention also provides a means of resource recovery from ocean depths without modification.